“Impact Matters” was the message we helped deliver during Impact Hub and Ashoka’s event last week in Vienna, aimed at informing social entrepreneurs about social impact and social impact measurement, and why no social entrepreneur should go without.

The first national Social Impact Bond conference in the Netherlands, organized by START Foundation, is a fact. It was even the first national conference on Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) globally, since SIBs are still a relatively new phenomenal. Worldwide there are nearly 50 SIBs up and running of which 3 are launched in the Netherlands. Clearly, some people think this will become much bigger than it currently is.

Social enterprises are united by one common goal: creating social change through business. Though social enterprises aim for both financial as social impact, many are – at least in part – funded by public money, foundations or do-good investors. These funds are granted not to be cashed back in dividend, but rather with the aim of creating as much social impact as possible. You would expect therefore, that all social enterprises know exactly how much social impact they are creating for whom, and which of their actions is the main value driver behind it. Especially because this knowledge holds the key to further amplify their impact, as well as accelerate and scale their businesses. Yet, many social enterprises do not measure their social impact. This blog post provides three key reasons that will surely convince all Social Enterprises (and their funders) to join the measuring camp!